Earth moving bucket
The two jaws of the bucket each consist of two rigid portions, the receptacle and the shovel, which are hinged onto on another around the pivoting axis. They are connected to the chassis and to the control cylinder by the suspension arm and the moving arm. The hinges of each jaw between the receptacle, the shovel, the suspension arms, the moving arms, the cylinder, and the chassis imply four hinged systems, each having four push rods. During a closing movement of the bucket from the position of maximum separation of the jaws, a relative pivoting of limited amplitude occurs in alternating directions between the receptacle and the shovel of each jaw.
This application claims the benefits under 35 U.S.C. 119(a)-(d) or (b), or 365(b) of International Application No. PCT/IB2009/055412, filed 30 Nov. 2009, and European Patent Application No. 08170866.1, filed 5 Dec. 2008.
TECHNICAL FIELDThe present invention relates to an earth moving bucket.
STATE OF THE ARTEarth moving buckets are known that comprise two jaws articulated on a chassis about spindles that are in parallel with and spaced apart from each other, these buckets being suspended on an apparatus such as a crane, truck, building machine, earth moving machinery. The jaws are controlled by one or several actuators housed in the chassis. The wide variety of soil structures in which these buckets can be used and the variety of uses thereof for digging, raking, lifting loads such as stone blocks, moving earth, leveling surfaces, etc. mean that users require these buckets to perform in extremely diverse ways which results in ever more improved designs.
European Patent EP 0256304 published on Mar. 7, 1990, describes a bucket that is capable of a great number of the aforementioned types of work. However, there is still a need to further improve the performance of the bucket described in the aforementioned patent and the present invention aims to achieve the improvements that have proved to be desirable.
DISCLOSURE OF THE INVENTIONTo this end, the present invention relates to an earth moving bucket comprising a rigid chassis suspended on earth moving machinery, a main actuator housed in the chassis, two symmetrical jaws controlled by the main actuator and able to be displaced between positions of maximum opening and complete closure, each jaw being supported by two parallel suspension arms pivoting on the chassis around a common suspension spindle, these two spindles being in parallel with and spaced apart from each other on the chassis, each jaw being articulated, at the lower end of its suspension arms, on a pivoting spindle in parallel with the suspension spindles, and being connected to moving arms controlling tipping movements of the jaw on its pivoting spindle during opening or closing movement of the bucket, characterized in that each jaw is formed of two different rigid parts, namely a receptacle and a shovel, each having a base and a flange or a toothing arrangement, these two jaw parts being articulated to each other and to the suspension arms around said pivoting spindle and being further separately connected to the moving arms of the jaw, the shovel by direct articulation to its base, and the receptacle by connections between its base and the moving arms, the control of the jaws being effected by articulated systems with four push rods that connect the suspension and moving arms to the chassis and to the actuator and that are shaped and sized such that between the shovel and the receptacle of each jaw there is produced a relative pivoting movement on said pivoting spindle, of limited amplitude and in alternating directions during complete opening or closing movement of the bucket.
Important features of the earth moving bucket in accordance with the invention are defined in the accompanying dependent claims.
One embodiment of the subject matter of the invention will be described hereinafter by way of non-limiting example and is illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which:
It can be seen in the drawing that arms 9 are disposed in proximity to each of the suspension arms 4. There are four moving arms, two per jaw 8, placed on the outer faces of the jaws. Before describing their functions, the arrangement of the main actuator 10 best seen in
The actuator 10 is indirectly connected to the chassis 1. Two co-ordination bars 18 are each articulated, at one end, to one of the spindles 13 and are connected at their other end by a tie-rod 19 whose central part is itself articulated to the centre of the lateral face of the chassis 1 by an articulation 20. This indirect connection between the chassis and the actuator allows the latter to move in dependence upon the force system imposed upon the rod 12 and the cylinder 11 of the actuator 10.
By comparing
The exploded
The effect of this arrangement can be seen in
The movement of this raking device allows clay or silty waste stuck to the base of the receptacle to be removed.
Claims
1. Earth moving bucket comprising a rigid chassis suspended on earth moving machinery, a main actuator housed in the chassis, two symmetrical jaws controlled by the main actuator and able to be displaced between positions of maximum opening and complete closure, each jaw being supported by two parallel suspension arms pivoting on the chassis around a common suspension spindle, these two spindles being in parallel with and spaced apart from each other on the chassis, each jaw being articulated, at the lower end of its suspension arms, on a pivoting spindle in parallel with the suspension spindles, and being connected to moving arms controlling tipping movements of the jaw on its pivoting spindle during opening or closing movement of the bucket, wherein each jaw is formed of two different rigid parts, namely a receptacle and a shovel, each having a base and a flange or a toothing arrangement, these two jaw parts being articulated to each other and to the suspension arms around said pivoting spindle and being further separately connected to the moving arms of the jaw, the shovel by direct articulation to its base, and the receptacle by connections between its base and the moving arms, the control of the jaws being effected by articulated systems with four push rods that connect the suspension and moving arms to the chassis and to the actuator and that are shaped and sized such that between the shovel and the receptacle of each jaw there is produced a relative pivoting movement on said pivoting spindle, of limited amplitude and in alternating directions during complete opening or closing movement of the bucket.
2. Bucket according to claim 1, wherein the actuator comprises a mobile rod controlled in a cylinder along the axis thereof, and symmetrically actuates, by the end of the rod and by the bottom of the cylinder, articulation spindles between two push rods of said articulated systems so as to control the suspension arms and moving arms of the two jaws, one of the push rods of each system being directly fixedly attached to the corresponding suspension arm such that any movement of the actuator moves the suspension arms of the two jaws in circular arcs centered on said suspension spindles.
3. Bucket according to claim 2, wherein two co-ordination bars are articulated by one end, one on the bottom of the cylinder and the other on the end of the rod of the actuator, the spindles of these articulations being the same as for said pairs of push rods controlling the arms, and wherein at their other end these co-ordination bars are connected to each other by a rigid tie-rod whose central point is connected by an articulation to one of the lateral faces of the chassis, the actuator not having another connection to the chassis.
4. Bucket according to claim 2, wherein in each of said articulated systems with four push rods, two rigid push rods articulated to each other by one end are articulated by their other end, one on the suspension spindle and the other on said articulation spindle between one end of the actuator and a co-ordination bar.
5. Bucket according to claim 4, wherein in each of said articulated systems with four push rods, an articulation spindle common to two pairs of push rods, one of each being connected to the suspension spindle and the others being connected to the end of the rod of the actuator, is also an articulation spindle of the upper ends of the moving arms such that during any opening or closing movement of the jaws of the bucket, the upper parts of the moving arms move in a circular arc at a constant distance from the suspension spindle.
6. Bucket according to claim 5, wherein in the control of each jaw the articulation spindle on which the upper end of the moving arms pivots supports an auxiliary actuator that is automatically controlled or whose control is connected to the main actuator and that is intended to reinforce the action of connection between the moving arms and the receptacle of the jaw and to actuate a raking device within the jaw.
7. Bucket according to claim 1, wherein in each jaw, the base of the receptacle has a curved bottom two side walls engaged in the space between the equivalent suspension arms and moving arms, a flange element being connected by a connection piece to the articulation body centered on the pivoting spindle, the shovel having in its base a curved bottom extended by a plate supporting teeth as well as on its two side walls V shaped reinforcement pieces each provided with two articulation rings respectively being used for articulation, around the pivoting spindle, of the shovel and of the receptacle, and of the shovel on the moving arms.
8. Bucket according to claim 1, wherein the arrangement of the push rods and connections of the suspension arms and moving arms with said parts of the jaws is such that the shovels of said jaws are able to retain a load between the jaws the bucket by the adjustment of the pivoting point determined by the contact force of said load with the parts of each jaw, the shovels undergoing relative pivoting of limited amplitudes with respect to the receptacles in each jaw during movement.
443993 | January 1891 | Henry |
1794257 | February 1931 | Thompson |
2314395 | March 1943 | Harrington |
2486479 | November 1949 | Kennedy |
2621428 | December 1952 | Billings |
3695473 | October 1972 | Martin |
4047313 | September 13, 1977 | Bricon |
5199194 | April 6, 1993 | Scott |
5762390 | June 9, 1998 | Gosselin et al. |
590 683 | January 1934 | DE |
11 23 097 | February 1962 | DE |
11 14 623 | October 1998 | DE |
0 054 207 | June 1982 | EP |
0 256 304 | February 1988 | EP |
Type: Grant
Filed: Nov 30, 2009
Date of Patent: Dec 17, 2013
Patent Publication Number: 20110283571
Inventor: Serge Vuistiner (St-Martin)
Primary Examiner: Robert Pezzuto
Application Number: 12/998,831
International Classification: B66C 3/00 (20060101); E21D 1/00 (20060101);